In Brief:
- On September 29, Moca Network rolled out the Moca Chain mainnet, staking its claim in the digital credentials and payments space.
- The Layer 1 network runs on the MOCA token for transaction fees and is compatible with Ethereum development tools.
- Designed to improve user experiences, the chain lets people verify credentials without handing over personal data again and again.
Moca Chain mainnet goes live
Moca Network’s Moca Chain mainnet is now officially live. The company describes the launch as a major milestone in its effort to bring digital credentialing and payments together. MOCA is the token for transaction fees and governance on the Layer 1 blockchain, which carries an EVM chain ID of 2288.
For businesses, the chain makes it simpler to issue, verify, update and revoke credentials. Zero-knowledge proof verification works from the first day, which gives users more privacy.
Companies can check customer attributes such as age or membership status, then issue credentials that work on other platforms too. Customers can then show they qualify for a service without sending sensitive documents every time. Gaming achievements or loyalty status, for instance, could be checked in real time.
Yat Siu, executive chairman of Animoca, stressed that user privacy has to come first: “Users should not be forced to surrender sensitive personal information redundantly every time they use a new service and platform.” He argued that the way things work today holds back competition and keeps users tied to the platforms they already know.
Business model and opportunities
The network’s commercial model runs through Animoca's AIR Identity platform, where issuers can charge a fee to verify credentials. Businesses pay for verification and users decide what data they share, so credentials that were issued in the past can start earning revenue.
The AIR suite links businesses to the network and adds payment and loyalty tools to its credentialing features. AIR Money brings together services such as payments and withdrawals and supports a range of payment methods, including fiat and stablecoins.
The first goal is to make customer onboarding smoother and get more value out of existing user relationships across platforms. Whether adoption spreads further will depend on how much commercial value businesses see in those connections.
AI agents and the future
Moca Network also sees a role for AI agents in its ecosystem. These agents would have to confirm user instructions and permissions, which extends what digital credentials can do.
Moca plans a delegation system that would let users restrict an agent’s permissions by scope and duration. Down the line, an agent could book services and use a user’s credentials to unlock membership discounts. That example shows how Moca wants to tie payments to portable credentials.
Moca faces competition from major players such as Coinbase and Google, which offer their own tools for authorized purchases and payments. What sets Moca apart is that it combines credential sharing, payments and loyalty into one experience.
Whether the model works will depend on three things: how customers feel about repeated checks, what merchants gain from it, and whether credential issuers keep earning revenue. The role of AI agents could increase these interactions, but enforcing permissions properly is still critical.